On Sunday, we began with the distinguishing feature about us believers is that we love one another.
Jn 13:34-35 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
We noted, Jesus said “just as I have loved you”….
That begged the question… HOW has He loved us??
His love is patient and kind and forgiving towards us, amen?!
We’re talking about God’s love is transcendent, even looking beyond our failures,… and this is why we love God so much.
Jesus is our great example on what it means to overlook a transgression!!
And we also started discussing why the Bible calls this attitude, this forgiving, loving attitude; a GLORIOUS thing.
As believers in our dear Lord, we are called to overlook the sins of others, just as He overlooked ours.
We are called to live in this glory, we might say.
On Sunday, I asked you to picture this…
(picture standing in an open field with your opponent right in front of you about 10 feet away…
… and as you steam in your soul about what they did or said against you, you glance above them at the majestic skies, and then the sun on the horizon and are reminded of God’s love… and of God’s forgiveness of YOU, personally!)
This big picture perspective comes from God; as well as the power to be able to live like this.
Then we discussed Jesus’ prayer on the cross:
Lk 23:33-34 And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. 34 And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.
And we discussed “how did they NOT know what they were doing? Wasn’t it intentional??”
Indeed it was; so Jesus must have been looking beyond the obvious, right?
Jesus said they DIDN’T know what they were doing. And He meant it.
He was speaking of their ignorance and falling into deception.
He was their Messiah, but the KOD deceived them into thinking He was an imposter and a blasphemer.
They even thought they were doing the right thing, even though it couldn’t have been more wrong!
But Jesus, in His grace, looked beyond the obvious and saw their weakness, and their ignorance, and He chose to ask the Father for their forgiveness!!
And really, His prayer for forgiveness of the ignorant and deceived is for ALL of us…
… as we were all ignorant at one time and against God, and living in deception…
… and we now rejoice that God chose to overlook our sins until we finally came to Christ for salvation!
What a glorious thing; and that’s the glory of God’s grace.
And that’s the great God whom we celebrate every time we gather together…
Then we noted Stephen said something similar to what the Lord said …
… under the greatest pressure possible, while he was being put to death!
Ac 7:60 And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
My friends, as recipients of God’s grace, we are called to PASS ON the love and grace that He’s shown to us… especially under times of pressure.
We all know it’s not always easy to have this forgiving attitude…
… but the same undeserved kindness we received from God MUST be passed on!!
GLORY!! : Grace and forgiveness are imperative to bringing glory to God in our lives!
Along with spreading the Gospel, this is what we’re left on earth to do, and that’s not an overstatement!
Speaking of an imperative, do you remember what the Lord said to Peter when He asked how many times he should forgive someone?? (I’ll leave that to yourselves to make the connection:)
Again;
GLORY!! : Grace and forgiveness are imperative to bringing glory to God in our lives!
We’re talking about transcending the situation and rising above the fact that we’ve just been sinned against,…
… and as difficult as it might be, nothing is worse than what Jesus went through on the way to, and on, the Cross.
Now, you might say “but how? how can I overlook someone intentionally hurting me??! How can I transcend the situation??”
It requires looking beyond the obvious…
… and also remembering the big picture…
… specifically, that you should have been judged and been in hell right now!
That’s kind of easy to remember, even under pressure, if you think about it.
Passing on His Forgiveness: Even though we deserve final judgment, we believers have been forgiven of our sins, COMPLETELY, and once for all!! Col 2:13-14. How can we then hold back forgiveness from others???
If that doesn’t help you step back and pray when attacked by others, I’m not sure what will.
And we were also led by the Spirit to remember this, as we seek to forgive those who have hurt us:
Eph 6:12For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
What if you end up in heaven and the Lord reveals to you that someone who hurt you on earth was actually possessed by a demon?? – Doesn’t that change your attitude toward them… maybe from one of bitterness to one of compassion??
We discussed the very real possibility that the people who attack you or sin against you could be either influenced, or even possessed, by demons! (as I’m sure many were at the Cross of Jesus Christ! – Judas Iscariot for starters!)
This doesn’t mean demons are always involved; it could just be the sinful nature of your friend being selfish or afraid in the moment, leading them to sin against you.
But regardless, demons are alive and active right now, and have power to influence people, for now.
As we got situated, we visited the verse that inspired this series:
Pr 19:11 Good sense makes one slow to anger,
and it is his glory to overlook an offense.
(have you ever been offended, or insulted, by someone? – well, it’s to your glory if you overlook that offense)
In this series, we’ll defer to this translation:
Pr 19:11 NKJV The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger,
And his glory is to overlook a transgression.
Well, the Hebrew word for “glory” here basically means a gleaming ornament.
Again, this verse says it’s to your glory if you overlook a transgression!
So, again, we’re really talking about…
The Glory of His Grace: When you choose to overlook the sin of another person, that’s Christ’s light shining like a visible glow from within you. The example you exhibit by overlooking someone else’s transgression is like a gleaming ornament (“glory” in Pr 19:11); a light in the darkness of this world. You are then living in the Light of Christ. Pr 19:11, Mt 5:14-16
Choosing to overlook someone’s sin is one of the main ways we live in the love of Christ which He commanded of us.
And this is GLORIOUS in God’s eyes 🙂
Now, we can’t go on until we visit a couple other passages about the glory of God’s grace!!
This is a big phrase, and glory and grace are intimately connected in the Bible.
Mt 5:14-16 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Eph 1:3-7 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,
The glory of God’s grace, the riches of His grace, is found in His forgiveness of guilty people.
God’s glory is not only found in His might and His power, but in His grace and forgiveness.
That’s what God’s Word reveals to us!
When Someone so infinitely mighty and powerful stoops down to forgive guilty people who are much lesser than Him, that’s glorious!
And that’s why we worship and praise His Name. 🙂
That’s why we give Him GLORY, and honor, right?!
His Light, the light of His forgiveness, has shone forth for us to save us from our sins.
And we’d be remiss if we didn’t see how the Lord responded to Moses about His glory 🙂
Ex 33:18-19 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” 19 And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.
And back to our main passage (this should mean more to you now):
Pr 19:11 NKJV The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger,
And his glory is to overlook a transgression.
We’re talking about living with an overriding heart of forgiveness…
… a willingness to overlook someone’s sins and faults, despite being wronged and hurt and offended.
And the Spirit encouraged us, as believers in Christ, we are no longer who we once were!
Granted His Power and Perspective! : We believers are new creatures in Christ; and as such, we’ve been granted His power to live a new life; a GODLY life! 2Co 5:17-19
We can now live like God because we have the Spirit of Christ living inside of us.
2 Co 5:17-19 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
This sarcastic question came up for us:
… doesn’t that just want to make you hold a grudge?! 😮
I don’t know about you, but I’m VERY grateful when my friends choose to overlook my weaknesses and even my sins against them.
Who am I not to do that FOR THEM, out of Christ’s love, when it’s the right time?? (it’s a PRIVILEGE really; to love them like Christ loved me)
It’s funny, whenever the Spirit has you teach something like this, He often puts us to the test. 🙂
And I knew it was coming; just didn’t know exactly how.
But right now, He’s testing me on this, to see if I’m willing to overlook someone’s weakness and offense towards me!
They sinned against me, even lied to my face, but it came from a moment of weakness… I know they’re going through a difficult time right now.
And even though I was angry at first, God answered my prayer about it and in certain ways, He told me to be gracious!
Just sharing, for your encouragement.
It’s not easy, but as we struggle, it’s worthy of our prayer and seeking God on how to handle it, to His glory… before we react out of emotions.
Now let’s take a minute to examine that God’s love doesn’t hold grudges;
His love isn’t resentful, but rather chooses to overlook an offense…
First of all, remember God IS love, in 1Jn 4…
1 Co 13:4-8 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends.
I’m convinced if we read this passage over and over it will change our lives.
There’s so much in there to absorb, in fact things I’ve never even seen to this point.
One of those is in vs. 5… “love…. is not irritable or resentful”.
When was the last time you were irritable?!! LOL
Resentful??? 😛
The flesh loves being those things, to puff itself up or to protect itself from pain.
But if we realize where it comes from, we can deny those things.
His Spirit in us denies those things… they are UNgracious and UNloving.
Here’s the NAS translation for a more direct statement about this:
1 Co 13:5 NASU – Love… does not take into account a wrong suffered,
Does that sound familiar?
A very similar thought to “overlooking a transgression”; we can choose to not even take it into account! (you know, how we like to keep lists of people’s failures?!! – UNGODLY!)
Love does NOT take into account a wrong suffered… that’s the love of Christ… the love that He had towards you and me.
And that’s why this passage should always snap us back into spiritual shape!…
Col 2:13-14 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
Speaking of “canceling the record of debt”, on Sunday, God led us into an analogy about paying fines for our sins.
We’re going to see a parable that uses money to illustrate our debt to God.
But, as we will see, this analogy really points to an infinite, unpayable debt that every person is under.
And we’ll see that this glorious forgiveness He granted us makes the offenses we need to forgive infinitely small.
And that’s the encouragement!!
And THAT’S what makes it easy for us to forgive others; that divine perspective that only His Word can give us. 🙂
Before we get to the parable…
… let’s talk about the price that had to be paid, since God’s Justice demands a payment for sins.
It took our Lord’s perfect blood to be shed to wash away our sins in the sight of our Holy, Righteous Father.
It was a priceless payment; something a monetary number could never be placed upon.
His Precious Person: In short, it took PERFECTION to satisfy the holiness of God; something we could never, ever offer to God.
1 Co 6:20 For you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
Someone had to pay a heavy price, beyond calculation, for our sins…
… so He’s telling us to be appreciative, and to make the most of the gift.
Remember this?
1 Pe 1:18-19 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot (perfect)
Again, this is all to help us carry around the right perspective, as we face circumstances that require us to live in God’s transcendent love.
And one more time, how about this to dwell upon??
Eph 3:19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
God wants the miracle of forgiveness to come forth in OUR lives.
But it must be done in the Spirit, and from the heart.
That leads us perfectly into the next angle the Spirit wants to take with us, to get His point across to us…
Have we taken God’s forgiveness to heart??
When I say that, I’m NOT being emotional.
Emotions are designed to be responses to proper, true thoughts from God… right thinking comes first.
You’re Emotions Aren’t Your Life – blog 7/28/23
When your emotions define your life, you have no lasting peace.
With that in mind, let’s ask ourselves again;
Have we taken God’s forgiveness to heart??
I’m talking about our inner motivation.
I’m talking about God looking at our hearts, which is where we find our thoughts and intentions in Heb 4:12.
What’s going on in your soul?
Do you really appreciate His forgiveness of your many, many, many sins; many of which you’ll never even comprehend in this life??
If so, if you DO appreciate His great love and forgiveness towards you…
… then why do you hold grudges towards those who have hurt you?
Why are you resentful and bitter towards your neighbor who offended you, instead of being forgiving and choosing to overlook their offense in the love of Christ??
Pr 19:11 NKJV The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger,
And his glory is to overlook a transgression.
Are you like the ungrateful servant in the parable??? (UGH)
Do you remember our dear Pastor brought this up a few months ago, and starkly stated we are ALL the ungrateful servant to some degree?! 😮
Let’s break the ice in our hearts a little further, shall we?
If you have a cold heart to some degree, of which we’re all guilty, honestly…
… do you think we should try to warm it up a bit, for our own benefit and to the glory of God??…
… AND, so that your God and Father is not angry with you?!
Mt 18:21-35 Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.
23 “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. (a talent = 60 million denarii, and a denarii is one day’s wage, so we’re talking about 60 million days of work/wages!!). 25 And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made.
26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27 And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. 28 But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii (about 100 days of work/wages), and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’
29 So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 30 He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. 31 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place.
32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt.
35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
I pray this type of cold heart is not present in anyone listening to my voice right now…
… and if it is, I’m here to tell you God’s love can conquer that for you, if you turn to Him.
Oh! To Overlook a Transgression!
God is love, and love is able to transcend it all… including strife, worry, resentment, anger, personality differences, disagreements, wrongs, misunderstandings, insults, persecutions, thefts, mocking, slander, etc….. His love is able to transcend it all, even in us and through us!!! 1Co 13:4-8
Through His love, we are even able (dunamai) to overlook the transgressions of others!
Pr 19:11 NKJV The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger,
And his glory is to overlook a transgression.